Today we’d like to introduce you to Jo Ann Mapanao.
Jo Ann, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My lifelong love and passion for flowers began as early as 1997 when I visited the flower farm of one of my friends (and later on business partner) in the Philippines. To make the long story short, that visit had greatly inspired me into setting up a floral shop in one of the main strip malls in Quezon City.
Our floral store, The Floweret, showcased different kinds of fresh flower arrangements, design, and style. I even designed some of the benches and chairs inside the shop to match its theme. Throughout the years, we’ve been featured in a popular Filipino TV series, had exchange deals with Skycable (a premier cable company), and became the sole recommended florist in the Legend Hotel in Mandaluyong City.
In the late 2000s, my family and I moved to Dallas. I started Plum as a labor of love through friends and acquaintances from work and church who would ask me to be their florist in their weddings or to create floral arrangements for special occasions.
All throughout that I always dream of having my own floral shop in the DFW area where clients can see different creative and custom-made arrangements as well as sit down and share their dream floral designs for their weddings and other important milestones in their lives with us.
Having your own shop and the responsibilities that come with them are no easy feat. But, I told myself we have to start somewhere and take one step at a time. So last year, my husband and I began our online flower shop, plumfloraltx.com. It’s a love project of our family. My kids are so supportive; they help me by doing the other tasks: taking photos of flowers, sharing their ideas even constructive criticism.
It’s been six months since we launched our website. We still have a lot to learn, but I’m grateful to the Lord for being able to live my passion, which is to create memorable flower designs that will make my customers happy.
Special thanks to my biggest cheerleader, my husband, Ped. He’s always been supportive of my dream since day 1. He helps with the delivery, buying flowers, and looking for new clients and marketing strategies. I know Plum wouldn’t reach where it is right now, without his motivation and belief in me and my dreams.
I’m also grateful for my three sons—Niko, Polo, and Edann. They are my “critics” in terms of designs, which challenges me to improve and constantly learn new things about floral arrangements. But they also help in the delivery and taking of photos that we usually used on our website. Last, not the least, thank you to my dearest Badette for taking care of our social media and helping us promote our floral studio.
Has it been a smooth road?
Our previous experience with floral business is ‘traditional’ in the sense that we had a physical store and at that time, online business is not yet in. We had to adapt to the ropes of online business—marketing through social media, tech problems for our website, SEO, etc. We also learned the importance of taking great photos for our site and how it entices more customers. Before we just showcased our designs in our flower shop and that’s instantly how we attract customers.
Another struggle is that the competition with online flower stores can be tough. So you have to really come up of ways on how to stand out among them. We tried to overcome this by creating unique designs that reflect our customers’ personalities and heartfelt intentions.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are an online flower shop that creates uniquely designed flowers for everyday celebrations or ‘just because.’ We are known for our bouquets that we customize based on the recipients’ requests, and at the same time reflects their heartfelt emotions and sincere intentions. Our mantra is that our flowers say it best.
Another specialization we have is weddings. I enjoyed meeting up with the clients and turning their floral vision for their weddings a reality. I also take time to get to know the bride and groom because I want my designs that reflect who they are as a couple. And we work with their budget, suggesting some alternatives and just providing them with value for money designs.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yup. I’ve seen flower shops thriving in this city and community because there’s really a big market for it. No matter how ‘traditional’ giving flowers may be to some, but it will never get old.
Pricing:
- our bouquets usually start at $40 depending on your floral requests.
- For weddings, since we specialize in custom-made floral designs, we don’t have any set packages but we do offer a la carte service in which you can individually avail bouquets and boutonniere etc. You can pick it up or have it deliver for an additional fee; just place the order two weeks before your event. This will give us ample time to shop around for your floral needs. In case you’re interested with the costing or pricing of the whole bridal entourage, our prices start at $2,000 which includes transportation/delivery fees and onsite set up.
Contact Info:
- Website: plumfloraltx.com
- Phone: (469) 805-1613
- Email: plumfloralarrangements@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plum.expressions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlumFlorals/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/plum-floral-arrangements-grand-prairie
Image Credit:
Polo Mapanao
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